Just got my first electrical bill! Help!

[Paul Torrigino]

Okay you all... how does this sound.... my last electrical bill was $54. Since then I had the new laser installed and I've been using it in my home shop. I just opened the latest bill and it was $267! I'm still swooning. I can't imagine what it will be in the summer with the air conditioning use on top of it... Does this sound right?? Anybody else have a surge in electrical costs with a new laser?
Epilog 12x24 45w

[Frank Corker]

Not to me it doesn't! The only increase I had in mine came from having the extractor fan on and the air assist, but no where near what you have there. Are you sure your neighbour isn't plugged into your mains?

[Gary Hair]

Are you sure it's only a 45 watt machine? Maybe it's a 45kw instead?

Based on electricity prices here in Oregon, my laser only costs me about $0.14 per hour to operate. The difference in your bill would be 1,521 hours of laser time. That doesn't take into consideration the air assist, dust collector, etc, but even if they doubled the hourly cost you would still have had to run for over 750 hours last month. You must have something else drawing that much electricity.

[James Stokes]

I did not notice any increase in my electrical costs from my lasers. I do notice a differance in the winter because of the electric heaters I have but that is all. Does your exaust cause your heater to run a lot?

[Aaron Koehl]

Sounds like a lot more than 45 watts. How about your dust collection or air compressor motors?

[Joe Pelonio]

Unless you are running an old gas floor or wall furnace, there is normally some electricity used to heat a house, even a gas forced air has a fan.
Was it a really cold month there? Running my laser all day every day I
had an electric bill of $110 here in my house where we have an electric clothes dryer and forced air gas furnace.

There are other things to look for too, besides a neighbor plugging in to steal your power for lights to grow marijuana. The most common is a refrigerator or freezer running all the time due to a problem like bad door seals or dusty cooling coils.

At my old location I used the laser 8-10 hours a day, most of the time with the compressor as well as the exhaust fan on, and had a heat pump for heat/air conditioning and never went over $75/month in over 2 years.

[Wil Lambert]

Sounds very high to me. My whole bill for our place including all the woodworking machines/ CNC/ laser are never over $120 a month. Keep in mind our 10HP central dust collector for the wood shop draw 35 amps. I think there might have been a mistake or something else comsumed your power.

Wil

[Mitchell Andrus]

Sounds to me like meter averaging caught up to you. Have your last few bills been guesstimates, or actual readings?

No way your laser used this much juice, It'd be glowing red hot.

[Lee DeRaud]

Also, check the reading on the meter against the bill: if the meter is read manaully, the reader might have transposed a couple of digits or misread one.

[Dana Florian]

Instead of wondering why your bill is so high, do this: There is a product called kill a watt (you can buy them on e-bay). Plug your laser into this and it will tell you exactly how many kw you use. Simple... Problem Solved!!!

[Craig Hogarth]

I haven't gotten my laser yet, but I'll be working out of the garage. I wanted to keep in in the home, but my rep told me that it will suck all the heat out of the room, therefore raising heating costs drastically.

[Dave Jones]

If the garage is heated, you'll have the same problem with the heat there. If the garage is not heated then I hope you live somewhere tropical. A laser isn't like a table saw. It won't work in an unheated garage in the winter. It's a precision machine with a miniature computer inside.

[Joe Pelonio]

I haven't gotten my laser yet, but I'll be working out of the garage. I wanted to keep in in the home, but my rep told me that it will suck all the heat out of the room, therefore raising heating costs drastically.

Just to clarify it's the exhaust fan not the laser that sucks the air out. Yes, when the fan's on it's blowing lots of nice warm room air outside,
but not enough fo that kind of bill. In really cold weather there's not much you can do, but on days like today (low 50's) I keep a window near the laser open so it can suck some of the fresh air rather than just the heated room air.

Also, again unless it's like 15 degrees out, just put on a sweatshirt and keep the door of the room closed, as long as the thermostat is not in the same room it won't cause the furnace to run more.

[Craig Hogarth]

Yes, when the fan's on it's blowing lots of nice warm room air outside, but not enough fo that kind of bill. In really cold weather there's not much you can do, but on days like today (low 50's) I keep a window near the laser open so it can suck some of the fresh air rather than just the heated room air.

Also, again unless it's like 15 degrees out, just put on a sweatshirt and keep the door of the room closed, as long as the thermostat is not in the same room it won't cause the furnace to run more.

Good to know. I may reconsider moving it into the house down the road.

[Mark Koenig]

If the garage is heated, you'll have the same problem with the heat there. If the garage is not heated then I hope you live somewhere tropical. A laser isn't like a table saw. It won't work in an unheated garage in the winter. It's a precision machine with a miniature computer inside.

What is the operating range on a typical laser application??? My Epilog 75 Watt EXT is going into the basement at the end of the month... It's going into a sectioned off area in the basement that was initially intended to house a 500 gallon water (wood burning) stove to heat the house... They put the stove in it's own building outside to avoid the mess inside... It has ducts that would work great for the laser exhaust but do I need to heat the room???

Thanks Mark...